[functionstooge]

I've found the thing that works for me to do is to log every single bit of food I eat from the office.

I keep measuring cups in the office kitchen and a food scale to weigh my food. If you're eating premade food that doesn't have a label, it makes it a little more difficult to count but apps like MyFitnessPal suggest similar items that make it easier to get a rough estimation of how many calories you're ingesting as well as how the macros break down for the items.

Luckily for me, my office tends to buy a lot of prepackaged items that have labels I can scan into the app to record everything but even then it can be hard to be precise. I've found that forcing myself to log the food I eat makes me think twice about going after the junk food and snacks. Also, the data you'll collect will be invaluable if you're tracking your weight as well and you can play around and see what calorie levels/macros work best for you.

As a side note, intermittent fasting has worked wonders for me when trying to cut weight. It makes it almost difficult for me to go over 1800 calories.